1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the cleaning and filling of containers and particularly to the handling of barrels and kegs pursuant to the sterilization and refilling thereof. More specifically, this invention is directed to apparatus for cleaning and subsequently filling containers, especially containers which have a valve fitting which projects inwardly, wherein the containers are subjected to a series of treatments prior to filling. Accordingly, the general objects of the present invention are to provide novel and improved methods and apparatus of such character.
2. Description of the Prior Art
While not limited thereto in its utility, the present invention is particularly useful in the cleaning and filling, in a series of steps which are performed serially and continuously, of cylindrical barrels such as, for example, beer kegs. Such kegs, of course, are provided with a barrel valve fitting that projects inwardly. During cleaning and filling, the valve-controlled supply and drain lines for the treatment media and the media with which the containers are to be filled are coupled to the interior of the container via the barrel valve fitting through the use of coupling-head assemblies. In the prior art, the throughput capacity of a barrel cleaning and filling facility has been limited by the filling operation. That is, the rate at which a cleaned barrel can be filled is limited by the barrel valve fitting cross-section and the filling step thus takes substantially more time than that required at the upstream treatment stations.
Published German patent application 1,557,580 discloses a prior barrel cleaning and filling facility in which barrels are cleaned, sterilized and filled with beer at stations which are arranged in series, the filling being effected isobarometrically. In this prior art facility, a barrel to be cleaned and filled, with the barrel valve fitting downwardly oriented, is forwarded from station to station, in a stepwise manner, by means of oscillating transport arms. The prior art facility also includes supporting beams for the barrels. At each individual station, a barrel to be treated or filled is coupled to a spring-loaded, coupling-head assembly through the use of clamping means which acts on the barrel from above. The coupling-head assembly and clamping means automatically actuate the valves through which communication to the inside of the barrel is established. Thus, in the apparatus of German application 1,557,580, the barrels pass, one after another, through the facility beginning with a cleaning station in which cleaning fluid is injected followed by the injection of hot water. Subsequent to the cleaning station, the barrel is transferred to a steaming station in which it is sterilized. Subsequent to sterilization, a barrel is transferred to a treatment station in which it is charged with CO.sub.2 at the counter-pressure required for the isobarometric filling operation. Finally, the barrel is transferred to a filling station, located immediately downstream of the CO.sub.2 charging station, where it is filled with beer.
In a facility of the type disclosed in German application 1,557,580, which comprises treatment stations and a filling station which are arranged linearly, the throughput rate of the facility is, as noted above, determined by the filling step. Typically, the filling station has a throughput which is about one-half that which can be achieved by the upstream stations.
In the interest of increasing throughput, published German application 1,557,580 further suggests a multiple arrangement of individual treatment stations and the use of filling means in the form of a circular filler or, alternatively, the employment of a plurality of filling means which can be connected to the cleaning facility in an in-line arrangement whereby the barrels can be conveyed to the individual filling stations by means of transport devices. While the arrangements suggested by the published application theoretically permit increased throughput, they have the disadvantages of requiring considerable floor space and of being relatively expensive to implement.